- HOW TO INSTALL NUTANIX GUEST TOOL (NGT)
- Prerequisites and Limitation
- How to Download Nutanix Guest Tool (NGT)
- Install Nutanix NGT Tool in Windows VM
- Install Nutanix NGT Tool in Linux VM
- To Check if the NGT is installed or Not in the Windows/Linux machine
- Disabling, Uninstalling, and Removing Nutanix Guest Tools.
- Disable or Uninstalling in Windows Guest Virtual machines.
- Disable or Uninstalling in Windows Guest Virtual machines.
HOW TO INSTALL NUTANIX GUEST TOOL (NGT)
Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT tools) contains the drivers and services for the guest virtual machines. Drivers provide Storage controller and network adapter for virtual machines.
Along with these drives you can install two additional services
- Self-Service restore (SSR)
The Self-Service Restore (SSR) feature enables Nutanix administrators or guest VM owners to mount snapshots inside the VM as per scheduled policy.
This capability allows end users to select the specific files they wish to use from a given snapshot.
- Volume Snapshot Services or Nutanix Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)
The Nutanix VSS hardware provider enables integration with native Nutanix data protection. The provider allows for application-consistent, VSS-based snapshots when using Nutanix protection domains. Supported with Windows guests. Microsoft VSS Manages and implements Volume Shadow Copies used for backup and other purposes. If this service is stopped, shadow copies will be unavailable for backup and the backup may fail. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.
The driver is also helpful for the conversation or migration of the from ESXi to AHV and vice versa(Cross hypervisor DR).VSS Requestor and Hardware Provider for Windows enables application-consistent snapshots for Windows VMs. Linux is also supported for the application-consistent snapshot.
These drivers are also used when performing Nutanix VM Mobility or Nutanix cluster hypervisor conversion. This is why we recommend installing the Nutanix guest tool.
Prerequisites and Limitation
- Empty CD-ROM or SATA slot to attach the ISO.
- Supported Guest Virtual Machines for Nutanix Guest Tools
- Power on the virtual machine.
- Verify that the guest operating system is running.
- Antivirus should not block for installing Drivers.
- Virtual IP(Cluster IP) address must be configured for the Nutanix cluster.
- Supported Hypervisors for Nutanix Guest Tool
- AHV version 20160215 or later
- ESXi version 5.5 or later
- Guest VM requirements for NGT
- Administrator account is required for installing NGT.
- PowerShell path must be accessible for proper NGT installation
- For Linux Virtual Machines, write permission is required for /usr/local
- lvm2 package version must be version 2.02.109 or later.
- Python Must be installed and enabled
How to Download Nutanix Guest Tool (NGT)
As of now NGT is not available on the portal for downloading, but in future it might be possible. If it is available then you need to have portal access in order to download the latest version of Nutanix guest Tool i.e. NGT.
Else, You can download the Nutanix guest Tool by clicking on the download button below.
Install Nutanix NGT Tool in Windows VM
- Open the Prism Console
- Select Windows VM from main menu and click the Table.
- Select the VM for which you want to install Nutanix Guest tool
You can confirm in VM Summary if the NGT installed or not.
We can see that NGT is not enabled and also not mounted.
4. Next Step we have to click on Manager Guest Tools to enable and mount the NGT
5. Log on to the Windows VM.
We will see Initiated enabling of NGT Feature for virtual Machine and Initiated mount of NGT ISO on VM
6. Open the Windows Explorer and click on CD Drive Nutanix_Tools.
7. Accept the license agreement and click on next for installing NGT Setup
8. We can see NGT installed Successfully in Windows operating System
Install Nutanix NGT Tool in Linux VM
- Open the Prism Console
- Select Linux VM from main menu and click the Table.
- Select the VM for which you want to install Nutanix Guest tool.
We are installing the NGT in CentOS Linux machine
We will see initiated enabling of NGT Feature for virtual Machine and Initiated mount of NGT ISO on VM.
4. Take the access of the machine with Prism or SSH.
If you are root just follow the below mount command.
5. Once the installation is finished you will see the successfully installed NGT
Using Linux Installer for red hat enterprise linux server linux distribution.
Setting up Nutanix Guest Tools - VM mobility drivers.
Successfully Installed Nutanix Guest Tools - VM mobility drivers.6. NGT running service check with below command
[root@CentOS linux]# service ngt_guest_agent status
ngt_guest_agent service is runningTo Check if the NGT is installed or Not in the Windows/Linux machine
Use NCLI utility/command to check the NGT installation status of guest Virtual Machines
nutanix@cvm$ ncli ngt list vm-names=CentOS
VM Id : 000899h-vvks-dd2f-0gkf-389mjhdp::kjkd980-mlou9-990k-jli09-7984hlc083
VM Name : CentOS
NGT Enabled : true <----- should show true if enabled
Tools ISO Mounted : false <----- should show true if the ISO is mounted
Vss Snapshot : true
File Level Restore : false <----- should show true if Self Service Restore is enabled
Communication Link Active : true <----- should show true if properly installed and connected to the CVMDisabling, Uninstalling, and Removing Nutanix Guest Tools.
Reference Nutanix Support & Insights.
If you disable NGT, only the communication between the VM and NGT-Controller VM service is stopped. To completely remove NGT from the database, disable NGT by using the Prism Element web console, uninstall NGT by using the guest VM console, and then remove NGT by using nCLI.
Disable or Uninstalling in Windows Guest Virtual machines.
- Open Prism Console
- Select Windows VM from main menu and click the Table.
- Select the VM in which you want to disable NGT.
- Click Manage Guest Tools.
- Clear the Enable Nutanix Guest Tools check box.
- Click Submit as shown in below image.
Open the command prompt or PowerShell and enter the below command
Windows PowerShell
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PS C:\Users\> cd ..
PS C:\Users> drive:\> setup.exe /uninstall /quiet ACCEPTEULA=yes /norestartDisable or Uninstalling in Windows Guest Virtual machines.
- Open Prism Console
- Select Linux VM from main menu and click the Table.
- Select the VM in which you want to disable NGT.
- Click Manage Guest Tools.
- Clear the Enable Nutanix Guest Tools check box.
- Click Submit as shown in below image.
If NGT in the Linux VM is running Python version 2, run the following command:
[root@CentOS linux]# python /usr/local/nutanix/ngt/python/bin/uninstall_ngt.pyIf NGT in the Linux VM is running Python version 3, run the following command:
[root@CentOS linux]# /usr/local/nutanix/ngt/Python36/python3 /usr/local/nutanix/ngt/python/bin/uninstall_ngt.py
Now take the access of the SSH to completely uninstall with ncli.
nutanix@cvm$ ncli ngt list vm-names=CentOS
VM Id : 000899h-vvks-dd2f-0gkf-389mjhdp::kjkd980-mlou9-990k-jli09-7984hlc083
VM Name : CentOS
NGT Enabled : true <----- should show true if enabled
Tools ISO Mounted : false <----- should show true if the ISO is mounted
Vss Snapshot : true
File Level Restore : false <----- should show true if Self Service Restore is enabled
Communication Link Active : true <----- should show true if properly installed and connected to the CVMIn the VM ID column, the text after “::” is the ID of the VM as shown in this example.
Run the following command.
nutanix@cvm$ ncli ngt delete vm-id=kjkd980-mlou9-990k-jli09-7984hlc083See also :-